1UP: Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise Review

"My relationship to my piñatas is a strange one. Like every normal human out there, I think they're adorable, but I don't let myself get attached to them. Otherwise, I'd feel like an evil tyrant when I break up their little piñata families and sell them off when they can no longer provide me with experience. What can I say? I'm practical?and the MMORPG player in me covets a level up in any game, forcing me to harden my heart and put aside my normal love for all things cute.

Leveling up is why the original Viva Piñata remains an addiction of mine; it still surprises me just how fulfilling it is to cultivate multiple gardens and complete tiny objective after tiny objective in order to attract a new species of piñata. Which is why I love Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise even more. While it's not groundbreaking and is pretty much the same as the original, the myriad refinements and user-friendly changes make the game even more welcoming. It's easy to appreciate the new interface additions, like the ability to more easily locate a specific piñata in your garden or quickly plant a certain seed. The handful of annoying and tedious actions from the previous game were rethought and streamlined, making everything smoother -- and a lot more fun. Even the stuttering framerate that would occur during the autosaving is mostly gone, which really helps keep your focus on working your green thumb rather than noticing how much your own thumb hurts from playing for hours on end."

There was a nice little touch in the first game where once in a blue moon (they were really, really rare) you could make a rare pinata I think they were called wild card pinatas, and they actually looked different. I hope they expanded on this a bit or at least kept them in this time, after completing the game it was one reason I guess to keep playing. I sunk tons of hours into the first one and never got a wild card, better luck this time maybe!

Would definately buy it for my girlfriend and probably would enjoy it myself as well...

...

BUT!

... they're charging 60 EURO for this game here in Holland, as opposed to 40 US dollar in the states, just because they felt the need to include a dumb stupid dub that no-one wants, so I aint buying it. Nice going, Microsoft(!)

and yes everthing is expensive here in holland a but my ps3 a week ago and now there coming with a new bundle with lbp for the same price so annoying from sony to change the sku every time and i also have a xbox 360 and ms is beter because zij veranderen hun sku niet elke keer met iets extra

I did enjoy the first one - but there was so little time to simply enjoy the gardens and watch. You were so busy trying to rush from one incident to the next it felt like there was little time to enjoy what you had created.

I really hope this has been fixed in this version, as in all other ways this is a real gem of a title and massively enjoyable!

hey im not saying this is a bad looking game, im pretty impressed by it actually- it's just that R&C is so mind-blowingly amazing visually that no cartoon-styled game will EVER surpass it lest it be another R&C game

Well maybe... Because kids watch Viva Piniata the TV series for some time already? Because kids, like those from my sister, when they are over here at my place play Viva Piniata 1 already for 2 years and totally adore it?

And heyheyhey although R&C is a fun game, Viva Piniata is totally different. And it got its own art style. If you see this running in real time, watching the stuff go through day and night its just good to see and nice graphics. Very colourfull though, thats for sure

It's good for achievement whoring and wasting 10 minutes here and there.

Deep or long lasting it is not, I'm not actually sure who it's supposed to appeal to, really, since the game seems to be a little awkward for the demographic it's aimed at. However, if you have kids or a little brother or sister, it's fantastic to let them loose and give them help every now and again.

I'd give the first one 7.5/10, if only because it keeps kids occupied if you give them a little help.

I won't be buying this though... I wouldn't spend money on a Viva Pinata game.

By reading PirateThoms comment it becomes evident that he's never played the game. I doubt he even owns a 360.

Don't let it's looks fool you, it's actually a pretty deep RTS game. Long lasting as well. I spent well over 30 hours building and tending to my garden, and I was nowhere near finishing it. If it's even possible.

There will probably be a demo on Live soon so you can see for yourself =)